Tangled Hearts (Passion in Paradise) (17 page)

“Close enough,” he
agreed with a wink.  “Now, as I was saying before my doubting Sweetness
interrupted me was that was some of the best food I’ve ever tasted.  Thank you,
Melody.”

Looking at the remnants
of the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, yams, and banana pudding, she smiled.  It had
been good.  Damn good, if she did say so herself.  Cal was completely right. 
Brad’s taste buds must have been severely defective.  Much like his faithless,
wandering affections.  “You’re right.  It was a really good meal.  I’ll tell
you what.  I’ll carry our dishes into the kitchen if you’ll go ahead and turn
the gas fireplace on in the living room.  It was getting nippy in there
earlier.  By the time I finish putting everything away in the kitchen, it
should be nice and toasty in the living room; we’ll be able to open presents in
relative comfort.”

“You sure you don’t
want some help with these dishes?” Cal asked with a frown as he eyed all the
leftover food still left on the table.  “This looks like it could be a lot of
work.  You cooked, babe.  I’m happy to help out with the dishes.”

Man, he was just too
damn perfect, Melody thought.  Why the hell couldn’t he be a typical guy and
take off for the living room the second he shoveled the last bite in his
mouth?  That was the kind of thing she was accustomed to enduring.  This new,
more evolved kind of man…. she wasn’t sure what to do with him?  Well, that was
a lie.  She knew what she wished she could do with him…and it involved some
chocolate sauce and a bed.  Melody shook her head to dispel those foolish notions.  
No, no, no.  Those kind of thoughts would definitely land her in a heap of
trouble.  Focusing her attention on Cal, she gave him a pretty smile. “No
worries.  I’m just going to throw plastic wrap over most of it and shove it in
the fridge for us to have later.  I’ll drop the rest in the dishwasher.  It’ll
take fifteen minutes, tops.”

Pushing back his chair,
Cal grinned.  “Okay, if you’re sure.  I’ll go get that fireplace turned on for
us.  I’m probably gonna go ahead and shovel the front walk, too.  Those
flurries have turned into a light snowfall.”

Melody bobbed her head
and watched him go with a vague smile.  Callum Valentine was turning out to be
a man that she didn’t know what to do with.  Sometimes he was so alpha she was
terrified he’d whip his dick out and pee a circle around her, and other times
he was so sensitive to her needs that it brought tears to her eyes.  What the
hell was a woman supposed to do with a man like that?

One thing was certain,
however.  She couldn’t deny that it was nice to cook for someone that had a
healthy appetite and appreciated her efforts, she thought to herself as she
collected their dishes and made her first trip to the sink.

Thirteen short minutes
later Melody hummed happily as she closed the dishwasher and started the wash
cycle.  Her granny had always said that sure hands made short work, and the
elderly woman had known what she was talking about.  Quickly wiping down her
kitchen counters with a dish rag, she released a satisfied sigh when she looked
around and surveyed her now clean again kitchen.

“I’m not getting any
younger in here, Princess.  You ‘bout done in the kitchen?  I wanna know what’s
in these boxes Santa left for me,” she heard Callum’s resonant voice shout from
the other room. 

Melody chuckled as she
flipped the light switch to the kitchen off and headed to the living room,
silently hoping that he liked the gifts she’d wrapped for him.  “I swear, you
are worse than any eight year old I’ve ever encountered,” she teased as she
joined Callum in front of the Christmas tree.  “Where the heck did all these
presents come from?” she asked, her eyes widened with surprised as she stared
at the gifts stacked underneath the tree.

“Most were stashed in
my truck.  Between picking up the gifts your brother mailed to you and half the
town stopping me over the past week to drop off gifts for us, I’ve been
harboring quite the haul in the truck.  Honestly, I was surprised we were so
well liked.  Turns out, in a small town, everybody wants you to have a merry
Christmas.  Hell, several of these were deliveries at the store, but you’ve
been so absorbed with alphabetizing your reading sections, you barely noticed
when somebody would come into the store.”

“I guess I have been a
little preoccupied, but, in case you’ve somehow missed my mania,
disorganization drives me bat crap crazy.  The good news is that I suppose when
you’re opening a couple of businesses in said town, people are grateful, huh?”
Melody added with a pleased smile.  “Between my book and yarn supply store and
your gym-to-be, Paradise is getting a couple of businesses they haven’t had
access to.”

“Speaking of the gym,
I’ve got a lead on an empty warehouse over on Mason Street that the realtor
seems to think would be easily converted into a gym.  There are even a few
rooms that could be used for classes like yoga and cardio fitness.  I didn’t
like the realtor though,” he complained.  “The guy just seemed shady.”

“What was his name?”
Melody asked curiously, kneeling on the floor in front of the Douglas fir that
Cal had cut down for her a few days ago.  They’d had a blast decorating it,
even though they’d ended up with more tinsel on each other than the tree.

“Dude by the name of
Henry Watson.  Honestly, the clown just gave me a bad feeling.”

“Hmmm.  I went through Watson
Realty to get my building but I dealt with an Emmaline Larson.  She was a real
sweet girl.  I’ll dig her card out of my wallet for you.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna talk
to Zeke or Patience McKinnon’s husband d first.”

“Abel Turner?  Why? 
You need a lawyer?”

“No, but from what I
hear, they are the go-to guys if you wanna know anything in this town.  It’d
help me if one of them know who the owner is and if they’d be amenable to me
approaching ‘em direct.  I’m more interested in owning than renting anyway and I
wanna know if they’d be open to an offer.  Like I said, Henry just gave me a
bad feeling.  If I can avoid giving him my money, I will.”

“Well, he is the owner
of the business, I think.  Sometimes those guys have a big ego.  From what I
remember my grandmother saying about him, he came from old money.”

“Well, he’s not getting
my money if I can help it.  At least not the commission.  If I have to go
through his agency, I’ll call that Emmaline chick that helped you,” Cal
declared, getting on the floor beside her and grinning when she handed him a
gift.

“Okay, that one is from
me,” she said.  “I hope you like it.”

Shaking the box
carefully, he brought it to his ear and listened.  “I don’t
hear
any
ticking,” he murmured warily. 

“Oh, please,” she
jeered, “Give me some credit.  If I going to kill you, I’d do it with my bare
hands.  From what I’ve read, it’s much more satisfying.”

Cal chuckled as he
peeled the wrapping paper from the present and carefully opened the box.  “Mel,
what did you do?” he growled, withdrawing the weathered brown leather bomber
jacket from the tissue paper inside the box.

“Don’t you take that
tone with me, Sergeant.  Trust me, those thin jackets you’ve been wearing are
not gonna carry you through a Smoky Mountain winter.  You needed something with
some weight to it,” she explained, enjoying watching his surprised face as he
stroked the soft leather.  “RJ has one, and he loves his, and I figured since
you two were such good friends that you might have the same kind of taste.”

“We do, babe,” Cal
acknowledged softly, unable to pull his eyes away from the coat.

“Cal?  Are you okay?”
Melody asked worriedly, looking from him to the leather jacket and back again. 
“If you don’t like the color, we can exchange it.  I got it at the mall in
Knoxville, and I know you probably aren’t a mall kind of guy because no guy
ever is, but…”

“Princess, shut it,” he
ordered quietly, finally lifting his eyes to hers.

What Melody saw in his
gaze made her catch her breath.  “Cal?”

“I told you how I grew
up,” he began softly, his deep voice weighty with emotion.  “Christmas wasn’t
exactly something I could look forward to as a kid.  When I became a man, I
spent a lot of time just ignoring the holidays.  Honest to God, this year is
the first year I’ve ever actually been eager to get to December 25
^th
. 
And that has everything to do with you.  This gift…it’s the nicest thing
anybody’s ever given me, babe.”

“I don’t know whether
that makes me happy or sad, Callum Valentine,” Melody breathed, blinking back
tears.

“Go with happy,
Sweetness.  I am,” he murmured, leaning forward to touch his mouth to hers in a
gentle kiss.

In that moment, Melody
was thrilled that she’d gone a little Christmas crazy at the last moment and
gotten Cal several presents.  When she’d wrapped them, she’d been concerned
that he’d think she was trying to impress him.  Now, she was just glad she
could give him a small taste of what he should have had his whole life. 
Reaching for another gift, she dropped it in his lap and grinned at him. 
“Well, you should know that I love all the holidays; be prepared for a lot of
decorating and gifts around this place.  It’s a house rule to celebrate every
major holiday.”

And as they began to
sort gifts, Melody wondered if she hadn’t just completely fallen for her brother’s
best friend.

~~***~~

“Okay, we’re down to
the last two,” Melody announced, sitting amid the discarded wrapping paper.  She
leaned toward him and dropped a slim box into Cal’s lap with a hand that still
trembled while she placed the other over the small wrapped package in her lap. 
She’d received several wonderful gifts this afternoon.  From the first edition
copy of Little Women that her brother had managed to find and ship to her to
the silk scarf she’d received from Harmony McKinnon, she’d been overwhelmed by
the generosity of her friends and family.  But the gifts she’d received from
Callum were the ones that truly touched her heart.  The man had gone completely
overboard, obviously putting much time and thought into giving her everything
from a beautiful black leather briefcase embossed in the corner with her
initials to a gorgeous grey cashmere sweater to a heart-shaped locket with a
smiling picture of her late grandmother.  She still had absolutely no clue
where he’d managed to unearth the picture he’d used since she’d never before
seen it.  Yes, this man sitting next to her was full of surprises. 

“Melody,” Cal growled,
wrapping his fingers around the present in his lap.  “Woman, you went Christmas
crazy with all this stuff you got me.  You didn’t need to do all this for me,”
he declared with a dark look at his own pile of loot.  In addition to the
jacket she’d gotten him, she’d added a black pair of motorcycle boots, an
engraved keychain, a couple books about the Civil War battles he liked to read
about and a gift certificate to have his truck detailed.

“You know, I could say
the same about you,” Melody chided, jerking her head toward her own mountain of
stuff. 

Cal’s lips twitched. 
“You deserve it,” he asserted firmly, his eyes narrowing as the met hers. 
“Besides, I’ve never had a woman to spoil.  I’m finding that I kind of like
it.”

Melody’s face
reddened.  “Well, don’t make a habit of it, and stop calling me your woman.”

His lips slowly formed
a lazy grin.  “Now, Princess.  We’ve been over this.  You already admitted you
were mine.  And what you’ve gotta understand here is that I’m not like other
men…”

“No kidding,” Melody
muttered, privately thinking that this man had a real problem with stating the
blaringly obvious.

“…I’m not one of those pussyfootin’
fuckers that’s gonna do the one step forward and two steps back with you.  I’m
an Army man.  We only move one direction, and that’s forward, and you and me,
Mel…we’re gonna move forward
together
.  You get me?” he questioned,
staring at her with one eyebrow perfectly arched.

Pursing her lips,
Melody just glared.

“Melody, you do not
test a man like me, babe.  Not about this.  Not when it matters,” he warned
softly.

“Or what?  What will
big, bad Callum Valentine do to me?” Melody retorted dryly, refusing to be
daunted by the giant of a man in front of her.  She wasn’t sure how it was
possible, but Cal frightened her a hell of a lot less lately than her ex-asshat
of a boyfriend.  While Brad had managed to become more threatening than she
remembered him ever being in the last few months, her feelings about Cal were
just the opposite.  She just knew in her soul that he’d never do a thing to
harm her.  He didn’t have that kind of nastiness in him.   Sure, he’d hurt
someone to protect those he cared for…but to hurt someone just to get his own
way?  No, she knew that would never happen.

Reaching out a long
arm, Cal tagged her around the back of her neck, his warm palm cupping her nape
gently as he drew her toward him.  “What will I do?” he repeated, his low voice
smooth like silk.  “Well, Melody, if pushed, I’ll have to prove to you just how
much you
don’t
want this thing between us to go backward.  I’ll have to
show you just how good it’s gonna feel when we move ahead.  Are you ready for
me to do that, Mel?  You wanna take that next step with me?” he murmured
against her cheek before nuzzling the space behind her ear.  “If you are, just
say, babe.  God knows that I’d be okay with it.”